Volume Zero: When The World Was Young
by SageofComics
Summary: When the world was born there were no miracles. It was through humanity's genius that miracles were born. It is with the help of a certain cosmic entity that people accomplish these miracles on a daily basis, sometimes they are the miracles. Read on as the origins to these heroes and their miracles are revealed.
1. Chapter 1: Infinity Imprints

Volume Zero: When The World Was Young

 **A/N: Hey guys I have returned and guess what! I'm giving up my other stories for adoption or at least you can continue it the way you want. Now just to clarify one person per story and it can't be the same person, so if you want both the Hopeful and the New Race then too bad you are going to have to choose. Ask permission before you do this though so that we don't end up with a messy situation on our hands. Now that we have the formalities out of the way I present to you my new story that I will definitely continue as much as I can. This is a reimagining of the Marvel Universe and I know they have been done before, but this one starts out with an OC-centric story and will slowly expand to include the other heroes in Marvel. Volume Zero is going to be a set of prologues to the stories that I'm writing and not one straight linear story, while the rest of the stories will have a title and start from Volume One. And now the story begins!**

 **P.S. I won't be describing characters native to the Marvel Universe, so look them up.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel-related, however I do own my OCs and if Marvel wants them they are going to have to cough up some money.**

* * *

 **Unknown Place-Unknown Time**

Mind Gem. Reality Gem. Power Gem. Space Gem. Time Gem. Soul Gem. These are the Infinity Stones and they are some of the most powerful items existence easily reaching the powers of the Celestials and even surpassing them if combined. They each control a thread of existence and therefore even using them in tandem can destroy the multiverse

What many people don't know is that there is a person who tugs on these strings to make reality. He is the creator of this universe and plays with it like a puppetmaster to their puppets. In fact, there he is now. A tall handsome man walked out of a black hole like he was walking out of a door. The man was 6'2" and he has dirty blond hair and he has bright blue eyes with flecks of silver scattered across his pupils like stars.

"Jeez, no need to make me go and blush"

...ANYWAYS, the man wore a baggy long-sleeved shirt and some pajama pants. His choice of clothes hid his powerful frame very well which could put Captain America to shame.

The man was here for a reason and hopefully he didn't forget like he has done several times before.

The man was standing there scratching his head looking confused."...What was I here for again?"the Puppetmaster questioned.

You know for a man in control of the universe I worry sometimes.I mean really you forgot your MOST IMPORTANT JOB!

"Just kidding I know exactly why I'm here it's to choose some new imprints for the stones right?"

*sighs* Yeah that's it. The Puppetmaster created the infinity gems when he wanted to explore the universe he had created, but he had so much power that he would erase any progress he had made with the universe and that is how the Big Bang happened. To safely explore his universe he had to get rid of most of the power he had, this came in the form of the infinity gems.

They were pinnacles of creation, the Puppetmaster had gone to the DC multiverse and went to a universe where all of the Lantern Corps were peaceful with each other. There the Puppetmaster, with the help of the Corps crafted the stones using a mixture of all of the different energies. In return the Puppetmaster decided to give them emotions...the following conflict was the bloodiest war in the DC multiverse, even Darkseid shudders at the thought of the war.

Anyways once Puppet Master returned he added his essence to the stones and he gave each of them a specific strand of his abilities. While this was a good solution, it also coincidently added colors to his universe, it was only temporary since eventually the stones would overflow with power and decimate the galaxy they were located in. To come up with a counter Puppet Master had decided to give the excess power to something that would eventually die.

This has both pros and cons to it. Pros: the energy will eventually die when the being who possess the power would die/Cons: the living beings usually had their own agendas and that was a dangerous game all on it's own and the fact that Puppet Master loved experimenting with the combinations of species and stones. Recently, he gave a fly the Power Stone and that's how the dinosaurs went extinct. He couldn't stop laughing for days after that occurrence.

Now back to the point, every 50 million years or so he has to choose which living beings would receive the imprints and that's his one job...too bad he forgets a lot or there would be about 210 more galaxies out there. This is one of the rare times when he remembers to do his job and now he must choose the imprints.

The story now refocuses on Puppet Master who got bored and decided to play Fallout 4 while floating upside down.

"Finally, I had to politely wait for you to finish your exposition before I chose who I wanted to imprint"he flips himself upright before closing his eyes and focusing on the first stone, the Mind Stone. Remember when I said that Puppet Master likes to experiment, yeah a more accurate statement would be that he loves to f*ck with his universe as much as he could.

"You know what Mr. Narrator my own "Age of Heroes" is coming up, so it's time to make my own band of super people! They could be called the Council or the Illuminati or-" JUST SHUT UP AND CHOOSE!

"Fine then party pooper. Anyways I already have chosen my first member of my super team!"

* * *

 **Outside of Earth's Orbit-November 15th, 2011-Tuesday**

"Ben Grimm to Overwatch. How am I looking out here Reed?" said the man soon to be known as the Thing.

"You're doing great just be careful on how you move, we don't want you getting lost in space"responded Reed Richards.

"Reed how little faith you have, I spent nine years preparing for this, so if anything you be careful"

"Okay buddy I'll just have to-"Reed stopped"Hold that thought Ben"

Reed had been looking at the scanners and everything was just fine a second ago and now there was a space storm coming their way out of nowhere. Reed sounded the alarm"Ben get in here now!"

A frightened Sue and Johnny Storm ran into the room"What's happening why has the ship just gone into safety mode!"Johnny shouted.

"Follow me! We need to go help Ben, he's outside right now. I'll explain along the way."

* * *

They had tried so hard but they couldn't bring Ben in before the storm reached them. As the storm passed over the four of them something...fantastic happened. While a cosmic storm would have normally killed them all. This one wasn't normal, it was conjured by Puppet Master and contained the Mind Gems powers within it.

Instead of exposing their bodies to radiation and having them die Puppet Master altered it so that instead of... you know,killing them,it would interact with their DNA and give them powers. And the storm gave Reed Richards a little something extra. His brain began to change, evolve into something extraordinary. Reed Richards already one of the smartest men on the planet began to get even smarter and smarter until he was easily the smartest being in the universe, but just because you have intelligence doesn't mean you have knowledge and with these new gifts came an insatiable hunger for knowledge.

* * *

"Now for the reality gem"

* * *

 **Wundagore Mountain-February 16th, 2000-Wednesday**

Erik Lehnsherr, once a very powerful man called Magneto, was now living at the base of Wundagore Mountain with his two children, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. They had kept his late wife's maiden name in respect and love towards the woman whom had died during childbirth.

And their birthdays were coming up in a month and Wanda wanted a pony which was, unfortunately, way too expensive for his mining job . Now he has trouble trying to break the news to nearly six-year old girl. To soften the blow he started the day by making her some chocolate chip pancakes and then playing with her until evening.

"Wanda dear, I'm sorry but I have some bad news"Erik started his dreaded delivery.

"What is it daddy?"asked Wanda with her wide and innocent eyes.

"It's…"Magneto faltered. How could he not when his baby girl was looking at him with those eyes filled with love and adoration."...the pony company ran out of ponies"

You could practically see the disbelief from young Wanda's eyes, but realizing that she wasn't going to get a pony for her birthday she started to cry and throw a tantrum.

"B-b-b-but Daddy you promised!You said that you would get me a pony no matter what!" the furious six-year old kept on yelling at her father. In that moment something...mystical began to happen as Wanda latched onto her want for a pony.

* * *

 **In a field close by-**

There was an innocent pony just eating grass with nothing in the world to bother it. Slowly, but noticeably the atoms that made up the pony started to drift away like sand in the wind.

Understandably the pony started to panic, but before it could do anything it was fully transformed into the particles and it began to float towards the tantrum-throwing child.

* * *

Slowly the particles started to form back into the pony right in front of the stunned Erik and the angry girl. Wanda had her eyes shut in anger at the Pony Company and her father and Santa and everyone else who didn't bring her a pony. The pony had finally finished forming and all it could do was share Erik's bewilderment. Erik slowly started to look back and forth between the pony and the pony started to look between the two humans.

"Wanda dear, open your eyes"

Wanda opened her eyes and there was the pony. "IT'S A PONY! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!"

"Wanda you are going to accomplish great things one day"Erik smiled proudly at his daughter.

* * *

"Hey I should give the power stone to a spider, you know how cool it would be to have a spider on my one would ever commit crimes ever again."

Do I need to remind you what happened the last time you gave it to a bug.

"That's why I'm giving it to a spider from the Weaver's Web and not some common household spider"Puppet Master explained.

* * *

 **Oscorp Lab-August 1st, 2012-Wednesday**

Spiders. They never anything wrong, yet they are considered to be one of the most common fears on the planet. With their eight legs and beady eyes these creatures are just another part of nature. However, a fun fact is that there are magical totems for every living creature with an animalistic instinct inside them.

Spiders have a special role on the totem pole of nature. The Spider-Totem contains the Web of Life, which represents the bonds and relationships between living beings all connected by a giant web.

One particular member of the Spider-Totem family got caught by the company that went by the name of Oscorp. The spider was brutally experimented on until it was essentially the Captain America version of a spider. Using it's newfound abilities it easily escaped capture, but once it did it was filled with unimaginable pain.

You know how I just said that it was the Captain America of spiders, well now he was the Superman of spiders. However Puppet Master didn't think this through. Feeling threatened and not knowing what was causing it pain it jumped towards the nearest human and bit down. Hard.

The brown haired boy screamed out in pain before collapsing. Then suddenly the spider exploded in a small puff of power. The boy was now frothing at the mouth and people were shouting. The boy was sent to the hospital and remained there for 3 months in a coma. Eventually, this boy's uncle would die and he would forever learn that with great power there must also come great responsibility.

* * *

"Well that was disappointing now I won't have a spider on my team"Puppet Master pouted.

This may be even more interesting because now the boy holds the energies of the Spider-Totems and the Power Stone.

"Whatever. On to the Space Stone."

* * *

 **Outer Space in a Galaxy Far Far Away-October 8th, 1976**

Puppet Master, why is the story in outer space?

"Well my narrating friend I decided that I need a force of nature on my team and a very powerful one too"

No way! Not even you're that crazy!

"But I am!"

You're going to give the power to Galactus!

"No"Puppet Master stated bluntly.

Then who?

"Why the Phoenix Force of course. Hey that rhymed." Puppet Master chuckled.

* * *

There it was. Both the most beautiful and terrifying thing you will ever see. The Phoenix Force was manifesting itself as it's namesake and burning down the planet where a Kree-Skrull battle was just taking place. The Phoenix was attracted to death and this battle was filled with it.

"Rebirth! The dead rise in my name and serve me!"The Phoenix screeched.

Suddenly the dead Krees and Skrulls began to rise and attack the living. "Yes master" was chorused around the battlefield.

At the Kree base they were coming up with a countermeasure to the godly being. Their commander on the mission was the Great General, Ronan the Accuser and an idea that might just work.

"What if we use the Cosmic Cannon?"

Immediately the room exploded into outrage.

"Silence! Your word brings truth. It is our only option if we wish to defeat the damned bird" Ronan voiced his opinion across the table and soon mutterings of agreement filled the room"Set up the cannon now"

"But sir this could make the Phoenix even stronger." one Kree asked. Shortly after his head was taken off by a swing from Ronan's hammer.

"Anyone else doubt the plan?"

Silence.

"Good now get to work"

* * *

"Sir the cannon is ready we just need you"Ronan's aide said.

"Then so be it. Let the battle for our fates commence"

The Cosmic Cannon is a device designed to take down Galactus in case he ever decided to stick his head in Kree business and while the weapon hasn't been tested against an actual cosmic being before it was their only hope. Ronan walked up to the cannon and using his hammer he activated it.

The cannon began shooting balls of pure cosmic radiation at the Phoenix and for a second it worked but then something...uncanny happened. The giant flaming bird had died, but the thing is with phoenixes is that they don't stay dead. The battlefield exploded with red and purple energy as the Phoenix Force fused with the Space Stone's power.

Before Ronan was turned into a skeleton he saw that the Phoenix had changed. It was still a giant red bird on fire, but now it's eyes glowed a deep purple and the edges of it's wings were tinged with purple. It could only be described with one word: Majestic.

* * *

You just created a monster. You know that right?

"Well yeah, but in what universe does the Phoenix not end up with Jean Grey, one of the few people who can control it"

Hopefully not this one.

"Now onto the trickiest of them all, the Time Gem"

* * *

 **Sacramento, California, a hospital-July 18th, 1996-Thursday**

"Damn you Mason you just had to go and get me pregnant didn't you huh!"shouted the woman as she was constantly trying to reach for Mason's neck. The woman's name is Harper Avila and she was a beautiful women with long purple-dyed hair and she was currently trying to give birth and murder her husband at the same time.

"Sorry" Mason meekly apologized. Let's just say that the sight of Mason trying, and failing, to help his wife through her giving birth was hilarious. Mason Avila was a very tall man, topping out at 6'5" with a god-like muscled body.

Suddenly, the lights in the room started flickering like it was a horror movie. The doctor and nurse paused for a second before going back to delivering the baby. Mason silently wondered if Harper had screamed so loud that it woke up some sleeping ghosts. Meanwhile, Harper herself was shouting at the ghosts to come and take her on if they're brave enough.

What was really happening was that Puppet Master chose a newborn for the Time Stone's power. This newborn was soon to be named Ashley Avila and her powers manifested the most out of all of the imprints. She received perhaps Puppet Master's most powerful ability, the ability to manipulate chronons, the building blocks of time. You know how atoms are supposed to be the building blocks of the universe, yeah chronons are times equivalent of atoms.

She out of all of the imprints had the best chance at changing her destiny. That day the girl with orange eyes was born.

* * *

"Now finally the most influential of all the stones, the leader, the Soul Gem"

This stone was special as it was the one tied directly to Puppet Master's soul. Whoever wielded the Soul Gem had a chance to pull on Puppet Master's string just like he can do with the whole universe. Since it was so important Puppet Master decided to follow the Lantern Corps. traditions and have the gem seek out it's own owner, the one with the most spirit in the whole universe.

* * *

 **Unknown place and time**

Tell me who you guessed to hold the Soul Gem. Captain America, Spider-Man, some other strong-willed character. Well you are probably dead wrong unless you are on the same path of crazy story telling as me.

* * *

 **Planet X-November 28, 2000**

Much goes through the mind of a young sapling before it grows it's legs and all it can do is watch. The saplings are very eager to absorb anything they can from their elder trees. They watch and absorb love, happiness, hard work, heroes, villians, laziness, anger, and prejudice.

They absorbed all of these traits however one of these young saplings is different. It thought for itself and wondered why the world had to have such bad things in it. Still a sapling it had a dream to make his planet, no his _galaxy_ a place without evil.

* * *

That young sapling was now had his legs and his dream still stood strong as he fought against prejudice and hatred with peaceful methods starting several protests for equality among the species and against slavery.

One day, he had seen one of his fellow saplings beating on a poor Terran slave. Furious he had charged and beat on the tree until he was a pile of twigs and sap. Despite his good intentions he was thrown in jail for murder along with the slave.

There they were sitting in jail right next to each other, a normal day in the life of a prisoner. Until a bright green gem floated down to their cell. The prisoners were surprised and the Terran voiced their question "What the hell is that?"

The gem then shot into the trees chest making him convulse in pain and green light shine through his branches. The tree started to run around the room trying to get rid of the pain, the sadness, the pure _emotion_. Sap was starting to pour from the tree's eyes as he started to cry. Finally, the tree started to calm down, but sap was still pouring down from his eyes.

The Terran, a small raccoon by the way, asked "Hey buddy remember me it's Rocket, your prison buddy remember"

The tree remained silent still lost in the emotions.

Rocket tried to distract the tree from whatever was clearly distressing him "You know you never told me your name"

More silence. The tree was still lost fighting the emotions trying to get back in control of his soul. He knew that he had to focus on something, but what? He had no family to love, saplings didn't get families, his friends disgraced him when he went to jail, and his "prison buddy" was practically a stranger. He kept on searching for something to grab onto until he finally found it.

His dream. The one thing he has longed to achieve since he was barely a sprout out of the ground. His dream to get rid of all of the evil plaguing _his_ galaxy. All of a sudden the emotions started to align towards the tree's noble goal. He had regained control over himself and now he had a purpose. First thing first, he wouldn't be able to stand up against the evil by himself, he would need more...guardians. And he already had his first stood up and faced the tiny mammal called Rocket.

"I am Groot"

* * *

 **A/N** **Soooo, what did you think? Was it good? Was it bad? I need constructive criticism people! Anyways on to the explaining. I wanted a narrator figure of sort, but the Watcher and other characters are overused so I decided to come up with an OC on the spot, the Puppet Master. As for the infinity stone imprint idea, it was an idea for my OC Ashley that she would have time-related powers however I wanted her origin story to be original so I came up with the idea of infinity stone imprints. Now regarding my choices for the imprints I'll explain.**

 **Reed Richards-Mind Stone: I wanted the mind stone to be set up differently than normal so it focuses on intelligence instead of how it works in main continuity. I hate how unclear they are about intelligence in Marvel and they say Reed is the smartest man alive, but I couldn't always see here I decided to truly give him the brain boost he needs to be the smartest man alive**

 **Scarlet Witch-Reality Stone: Their powers are similar, so I used the reality stone to amplify her powers to completely unreal levels, however the freak quantum occurrence only happened because of her intense emotion towards wanting a pony, so don't expect her to be completely OP.**

 **Spider-Man-Power Stone: Spider-Man is without a doubt my favorite Marvel character, so I feel like I had to honor that in someway. And what way better than to give his personal motto a little more oomph. The spider part gave him all of the typical mainstream spider abilities, such as his spider-like abilities and Tantric and Chaotic energy(both are canon), but his abilities and overall strength has been increased. He only possesses a very small amount of the power stone's...well power. He can only access all of it when he reaches an all-time adrenaline high though.**

 **Phoenix Force-Space Gem: Ok this one wasn't exactly my idea as when I reached some writer's block someone offered up Jean Grey and I thought that** _ **maybe**_ **it could work because she already has the Phoenix Force. Then it clicked why not give this story some real tension and Phoenix will rear it's head eventually where our heroes will need to band together in my version of the Dark Phoenix storyline.**

 **Ashley Avila-Time Gem: When I created her I was addicted to Quantum Break and all I could do was think "how would Jack's powers fit into comics" Ashley is my answer. And no she isn't like Jack Joyce so don't worry. I believe I already explained my reasons for her recruitment earlier.**

 **Groot-Soul Gem: I had some writer's block on this one too and had some trouble deciding who to choose. I had also considered Cap, Daredevil, and Adam Warlock, but the first two it would ruin their characters in my opinion and Adam Warlock will eventually get his hands on the soul gem, but since I know nothing about him I'm going to do something different with him. As for my actual choice I saw an image of Jean Grey reading Groot's mind and all he said was his signature sentence, but his mind was filled with a whole paragraph full of meaning. That's when I realized that Groot was the perfect choice for the Soul Gem.**

 **Now that the explaining is over I hope you all have a great day.**

 **Reviews are awesome Constructive criticism is better.**

 **-Sage out-**


	2. Chapter 2: Dare To Seize Life

Volume Zero: Marvel

 **A/N: Welcome back my adoring fans. Even though I have failed you in the past this is proof that I plan on continuing this story. This chapter is the origins or beginnings of my OCs that are going to be the stars of my first story in this universe I'm building. Starring James Reia aka "Bladestorm", Ashley Avila aka "Time Mistress", Anthony Rebalas aka "Invincible". James and Ashley are going to be our dear leads while Anthony is going to be our hopefully sympathetic villain (Loki-style). Anyways here is the origins. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel-related, however I do own my OCs and if Marvel wants them they are going to have to cough up some money.**

* * *

Chapter 2: Dare To Seize Life

 **Fresno, California- September 25th 2009**

Seventh Grade. The year your future begins. This is especially true for one particular young man, James Reia. Standing at a less than average height of 5'5" and very skinny with bright blond hair, dark green eyes, and tanned skin that hints at his Tahitian heritage. If he was fit into a particular stereotype he would fill the Lazy Genius and Shy Kid perfectly.

The school day had just ended and the sun was still high in the sky with clouds littering the skyline. Kids are rushing out of school ready to enjoy their free time and lament over homework. James Reia in particular was absolutely dreading his afternoon. This afternoon was the day he finally runs away from his house. Now, I know what you must be thinking, "He must have abusive parents or maybe he's in the foster system". Well I'm here to tell all of you that you are wrong.

A lot of teens start suffering depression once they enter junior high, the year that all of the gossip, bullying, drama, and homework take a step up. James is one of these teens. When he was born he was missing his right index finger. Here's something different though, he was never bullied growing up, in fact his friends are often overprotective of him.

While experience and his friends told him one story, media told him a completely different one. The nerds, the genius, and the people with defects were the ones that were always bullied and picked on. And James was the complete package. Even though he had no bullying in his life he expected it around every corner. Every day he expected his friends to suddenly turn on him for popularity and start bullying him.

Eventually a bully did appear, himself. The fake pressure media had put onto his shoulders had created a deep self-loathing. He hated every fiber of his being and even his gifts were turned against him. His genius was overrun by an unnatural amount of laziness and even his rugged good looks were diminished by his lack of hygiene, once again caused by laziness.

Concerning his family he knew that they don't hate him, in fact he knows that they love him very much. Which is the reason he hasn't committed suicide or even giving it a thought. He knows that his family will be heartbroken if he died even if he didn't see his worth he saw his family's worth. The reason James wants to run away is because his parents are starting to grow more and more broke and he believes that leaving will give his family a chance.

James arrives at his house and immediately rushes down the hallway to his room barely having enough time for him to say hello to his soon-to-be-left parents. He accidentally slams the door shut in his rush and James shouts an apology to his mom. He pulls up his backpack onto his bed and empties it out, scattering pencils and papers everywhere. He starts packing the things he needs for his little(read: big) runaway adventure.

He starts muttering as he checks if he has everything "Snacks, check. Water, check. Money, check. Directions to a one Seattle, Washington, check. That should be everything" He looks around his room as he double checks his backpack. Looking around his room and all of the memories that it is filled with makes a nervous pressure hang over James's head. His anxiety was returning big time, but he should have expected this since running away is such a big decision.

His head starts to feel like a cloud decided to just float on in and bring his pal, nervousness with him. His breaths start to quicken and his chest starts to feel like a 200 pound weight was put on it. Basically, he was having a nervous meltdown and he couldn't let anyone help him or they might discover his plans.

James tries to stop it by thinking about anything except running away. 2 + 2 = 4, math….not working. Thinking about his parents would only worsen his problem. Video games…. is something that he isn't going to have when he leaves. Cute girls…. damn he really wanted that one to work. Nothing was working and he kept searching his mind, memories and ideas flying by as quick as light in his head, until he landed on a specific memory.

* * *

 **Memory- Unknown Time**

Perhaps the weirdest thing about this memory was that it wasn't his own, but this memory is pretty god damn weird so the debate is still up. Reflecting upon this memory was like a third-person game, you know who you are controlling, but you aren't viewing it from their perspective. The person the memory is focusing on clearly wasn't him, the man being about four inches taller and being built like a martial artist ready to take on Bruce Lee and then take on Chuck Norris for dessert. Other than that he shared many similar characteristics with James, including his missing finger.

James started to focus on the memory as a whole, realizing he was standing in what looked like hell. There was a giant crater, maybe a mile wide that looked like hell had decided to come take a vacation here. He thought that he could see that some trees off in the distance, but he wasn't sure. The floor looked like red stone that was completely covered with ash, with the occasional red stone spike popped up looking like it could easily impale people. This place was scary and James silently wondered if God had decided to send him to an early grave for running away.

Speaking of other people, there was a small group standing away from the man mentioned earlier. They all had their own unique look to them, some of them even having Halloween costumes on. What really caught James's eye though was a crying girl. She had bright orange eyes and she was desperately trying to run towards the man. She was shouting, but it was like someone had turned off the audio. The other people in the group had to hold her back as she kept on bucking some of them off.

The man looks like he shouts something and a couple tears slide down his face. The man quickly turns away from what was likely his girlfriend or something. Throughout all of this soundless drama James was confused, why was everyone tearing up like somebody had just died. Then James heard his first thing since he came here, a giant stomp that resounded throughout the crater. Slowly, more sound started to bleed through as he could hear the wind and shouting.

Despite his rediscovered hearing that is not what James was focusing on. It was where that giant stomp had come from. Across the crater, about a quarter of the way across, there was a giant ass red portal with fire and lava slowly slowly moving down the sides of it(think of the Oblivion Gates). Despite it's fearsome appearance that wasn't the scariest thing about it. Perhaps it was the sounds of hundreds of people being tortured emanating from the portal. Or, you know, it just might be the twenty-foot tall buff devils coming through the portal. Let's not forget the flaming swords that were almost as big as the fire giants themselves.

Let's just say that James had a pretty good idea why the girl was crying now. This man was going to fight these satan-ripoffs. Out of all the questions running through James's mind only one stood out, why? Why would he fight these creatures by himself? He didn't even have a weapon! This man was signing his own death sentence and for what, to stall them? The man would need a nuke or a superhero to even put a dent in these guys.

Suddenly, James's thoughts were cut off by another fire giant walking through the portal. The thing about this one is that it easily made the other giants look like ants, it was so tall that it could have used the Empire State Building as a spear. Speaking of spears instead of having a giant sword like the rest of the giants he had a gigantic two-pronged spear with skulls hanging around the blade like the spear's own fancy necklace.

"Where is he" the fire giant shouted " Where is Thor Odinson!"

"Nowhere you can find him!" shouted the man next to James causing James to jump in surprise since he couldn't hear voices before then.

"If he is not here then **you** shall be the one who pays the price, Bladestorm!" the giant's shout resounded across the crater making some of the spikes collapse under the pressure. The man, Bladestorm apparently, stood calm though with his cloak billowing in the wind like he was a character in an anime.

"Well I don't have any money right now, so can you come by later, maybe in the next millennium or so!" Bladestorm shouted up to the giant. Meanwhile, James couldn't figure out **why** the man was joking at a time like this. Obviously the giant wasn't going to leave anytime soon.

As if to further prove James's point the giant snarled " No one makes a fool of Surtur! Attack him!" and the masses of devil-ripoffs started to charge at the man. This makes James realize two things, first the giant's name is Surtur which is a big 'hell no' among Norse mythology, except it wasn't just a myth here and that probably means that Ragnorok was happening. Meaning the end of the world was happening and the only thing standing before the apocalypse was a single man who didn't even bother to bring a weapon with him. Second, was that the giants were not only charging at Bladestorm, but also at James himself.

Meanwhile, Bladestorm had suddenly gained an ax-crazy look in his eyes and a wicked grin appeared on his face. "If you want a fight!" He paused for a moment as he gained a determined look in his eyes as a dark blue energy started to flow around his hands, so thin that it was like a second layer of skin. He put himself into a fighting stance that looked like nothing James has seen before. James felt like this man could take take on these demons now with the feeling of power and authority that was rolling of the man in waves. "THEN HERE I AM!"

Then the man charged. Weapons started to appear in the masses above the battlefield, ranging from snipers and shotguns to swords and spears. It seemed that every weapon made in the history of mankind was falling from the heavens to strike down these demons. James duly noted that Bladestorm was a decidingly fit name. The man grabbed a sword from the air then he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke and then a giant fell to the ground dead, the sword stuck through his skull.

Bladestorm then teleported again grabbing a still falling shotgun before teleporting again right in front of another giant and blasting him straight in the eyeball, before backflipping off the giant's chest leaping over a sword swing. Landing on the giant's back he blew his brains out from behind, or whatever fire giants had for brains. The man then threw the shot gun in the air before teleporting again.

This time he had gotten a hold of a sniper rifle and while still mid-air and falling he took the shot and hit five of the giants at once through the head. Landing on the ash-covered ground Bladestorm rolled away, leaving the sniper behind, and leaped up and uppercutted a giant straight in the face, surprisingly causing it to stumble back. The man teleported again, moving around the giant hitting it in seemingly random points on it's body until the giant couldn't stand anymore falling down with lava foam frothing from it's mouth.

Bladestorm teleported high above the fire giants next grabbing a giant sword. Instead of teleporting down below to continue his massacre he started to **fly**. He calmly raised the sword above his head before gaining a glint in his eyes. He started to fly towards the ground electricity forming him like a mach cone. He must have a death wish, but he was already facing the apocalypse's personal army so why not. Bladestorm kept on speeding up faster and faster until he broke the sound barrier causing a huge sonic boom before he crashed into the ground.

What happened next was something out of a comic book. Ash flew everywhere from the impact, but it seemed to pause **mid-air** before returning to the center of the impact. Another pause. Then a huge explosion of lighting began to expand out of the impact vaporizing fire giants left and right. For a moment it seemed like Bladestorm couldn't be stopped with his endless massacre of the giants and that just maybe Ragnarok could be stopped or at least stalled. That feeling went away when Bladestorm emerged from the crater he had created.

His left arm was scorched beyond recognition looking like someone had decided to put over a barbecue and then left there for a whole year. Then his arm began to fade away turning into ash flowing away in the wind to be with the rest of the ash on the floor. If one looked closely enough they could see the difference between the ash with Bladestorm's ash being pitch black compared to the dark gray of the crater's ash.

That's when James noticed a single tear flow down Bladestorm's face. How would he continue the fight if he had only one arm? To that question resounding through both of the men's' heads there. Bladestorm smirked and James blanched. Bladestorm reached down to pick up a full-fledged katana and put it in his mouth before picking up a shot gun and charging off once again into battle. Here is where Bladestorm changed his previous martial arts into a truly unique way of fighting. James wasn't sure if it could be called a martial arts, especially when that martial arts involves having a sword in your mouth and using his storm of weapons as juggling practice.

Bladestorm leaped towards a fire giant's face and used his shotgun to easily put an end to the giant's life before throwing his shotgun up in the air. He then rolled under a sword being swung at him before he ran up the giant's right arm and used the sword in his mouth to cut the giant's throat. Once the giant fell on the ground Bladestorm charged and slid by right next to another swing, this one catching his cloak and cutting it's already tattered form in half. After his slide Bladestorm picked up another sword, this one vaguely looking like a greatsword and began to swing it around. He was constantly avoiding blade swings, each of them getting closer each time, and in his brief moments of peace cut the backs of the fire giant's legs causing them to fall.

This went on for a while, the man constantly avoiding attacks that were always a bit too close and attacking with the weapons scattered across the floor. He switched between weapons again and again using whatever he could find, but anyone could tell that it was a fruitless effort. There were more and more swings from the giants and less from Bladestorm. Finally, the man was cornered and beaten. His clothes were barely there anymore with just his pants just barely hanging on. The katana that was in his mouth before was now broken at his side with the handle still resting inside his mouth along with a broken battleaxe.

 **Note:This made me cringe writing it so if you want the basic rundown, in his condition the Hulk would have a hard time standing up.**

Bladestorm himself made the weapons look good in comparison. He had accidently cut off the rest of his fingers in a rush to roll under a giant's swing….he had to shove the battleaxe through his hand to continue fighting. Both of his legs had huge gashes in them and that was only the parts that the giants hadn't cut off. Cuts were littered over his torso, some so big that you could see his intestines threatening to burst out.

 **Note: You're safe to read from here.**

Overall, he was a deadman walking, but he still had that goddamn smirk on his face. James had thought that he had finally lost it when the battered man started to laugh. For a moment James was absolutely bewildered, he had heard of people silently accepting their deaths or straight up panicking for them to live, but he had never heard someone laugh before they die. It was then when Surtur himself visited the soon-to-be-dead man and shrunk himself down to be level with Bladestorm, even if he was still a good eight-feet tall. What Surtur did next was surprising from the guy who is supposed to lead the apocalypse.

Surtur rested his hand over the still laughing man's eyes and closed them "You are truly one of the bravest adversaries I have ever faced. May you find your way to Valhalla in peace young one."

In response Surtur received spit in his eye. " _Carpe Diem,_ bitch" he muttered with the last of his strength. It was then you could see a single tear find it's way down the dead man's face as you could see the tension visibly leave the man's body. Surtur wiped away the spit from his eye and did a weird symbol with his hands, that looked sorta like a prayer.

Despite not knowing this man or the current situation James felt his heart pang with unimaginable grief and horror. With these burning emotions in his heart Bladestorm's last words were burned into James's soul " _Carpe Diem"_. Don't be afraid to live life is what it basically means or at least that was James's personal view on the age-old saying.

Surtur stood up, finally done paying his respects,and turned around facing his forces. He grew back to his normal height at the towering height it was, and proceeded to motivate his troops

"This man here that has defied us in the first battle of Ragnarok was our last obstacle in our way. However, despite his insolence he fought for a cause and he fought valiantly. He is a truer warrior than even Odin himself! This warrior, that went by the title of Bladestorm, had a name. His name was James Reia, once upon a time just a regular midgardian struggling for life, but he stood in front us today as a symbol of hope and inspiration. Now that he has gone to Valhalla we must continue his lesson of hope and inspiration for the Jotnar! Now let us finally charge to our dreams and hopes using James 'Bladestorm' as our inspiration! For Ragnarok!"

James's memory started to fade to black as Surtur charged out of the crater with his giant army of demons following after him.

* * *

 **Back into James's room**

While you guys were reading the memory like James was there, that isn't how it felt for James. He was experiencing it like a daydream of sorts and in his attempt to hold onto this memory he had grabbed one of his numerous notebooks and started to write down the details of the memory. He was able to get down most of the important details, like Ragnarok, Surtur, Bladestorm, and …. his death.

Written down in large bold words taking up a whole page in his notebook were the words " _ **Carpe Diem**_ "

"Why would he say that? Why were those his last words?" James questioned as he looked over all of the details in his notebook. His eyes landed on a note from the first page.

"Crying girl. Possible girlfriend?"

Maybe that was why he was different in the future. Maybe he had met this girl and she changed him forever, making the bully in himself go away. This girl was the key to the future and his memory, or whatever that was. He needed to find her and find out about this….vision of his.

Forgotten in the wake of this revelation James's anxiety disappeared and his confidence concerning his plan to runaway. It was later that night when his plan went off without a hitch and he successfully ran away from his parents and his previous life, ready to seize a new one.

* * *

 **SHIELD Triskelion-Unknown Location**

"Get me an accurate location now or you can kick your own ass off of this ship!" Nick Fury Shouted as he looked upon the numerous rows of screens in front of him all dedicated to doing one job. About five hours ago there had been an energy pulse matching one they had received around a decade ago from Sacramento. This unknown energy was immeasurable in it's intensity and never before seen, naturally this caught the attention of some of the higher ups

Since then the search for the unknown energy was one of SHIELD's top priorities. And until now they haven't had a single lead until this evening when a smaller, but recognizable match was found in Fresno. He had finally found it and he was not about to let it go. He would go to any lengths necessary to-. Was that guy playing Galaga….he was.

"You motherfucker, so how do you want your ass-kicking today? Self-served or on compliments of Black Widow and Hawkeye?"

The man proceeded to punch himself numerous times before taking out a small knife and stabbing it into his leg. He then tasered himself and was knocked out.

"Well done, Agent Burkett come take 'Galaga' over here to Wall Street….naked" Fury ordered obviously pissed. A female agent quickly came over and lifted the man away from his station dragging him out of the command center. Noticing the other agents stopped to pay attention Fury shouted "What are you looking at? Want to end up like him, the next embarrassing Youtube sensation? No? Then get back to work!"

* * *

 **A/N: Well here is the second chapter of "When The World Was Young" and this will be apart of a three part origin leading up to the beginning of my first actual story in my universe. The second part shall feature the baby from Chapter One that got the Time Stone Imprint, while the third part shall focus on the villain of our story, Anthony Rebalas. Quick**

 **Note: These origins are eventually revealed in the actual stories, except they are going to have a bit more mystery behind them. These stories are for you guys to get a better idea of where my OCs come from and how the origins of certain characters have changed.**

 **Reviews are awesome Constructive criticism is better.**

 **-Sage out-**


	3. Chapter 3: Dare To Seize Destiny

Volume Zero: When The World Was Young

 **A/N: Welcome back ladies and gents to my wonderful works of madness. While this work in particular hasn't been nearly as popular as my two other stories with this one not even breaking the 100 views mark at the time I'm writing this I will continue this story! Especially since I have some personal investment in this since it is my practice work for a book I'm going to write later in life. Anyway, on with the story. This chapter will feature our female lead and the backstory behind her and give some more explanation to her powers. Like I said before these stories are skippable, but will still be considered canon in my universe. Now introducing the lovely Time Mistress, Ashley Avila!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel-related, however I do own my OCs and if Marvel wants them they are going to have to cough up some money**

* * *

Chapter 3: Dare To Seize Destiny

 **Safehouse-Unknown Location- July 25th 1996**

"We have to leave"a calm female voice said.

"Why?" a male voice questioned.

These two voices belonged to a couple that had become parents barely a week female voice belonged to Harper Avila, a beautiful purple-haired woman that stood at a dwarvish size of 5'2" wearing a worn out forest green sweater and some ripped jeans.

The male was Mason Avila, almost the complete opposite in looks to Harper with dark blonde hair and standing at a staggering height of 6'5" completely towering over most people he meets. He was wearing a brown trench cloak with a black under armour shirt to show off his very well-built physique and he also had on some jeans, but these ones weren't ripped like Harper's were.

They were in a small safehouse barely bigger than the average apartment and it was dirty. They rarely used this safehouse and the neighbors are complete slobs, so stains from their walls and floors sometimes made their way into 'safehouse'. Mason was holding their newly born daughter, Ashley, slowly cradling her to sleep as he continued his conversation with Harper concerning their next move.

"The energy burst from Ashley's birth is something never before seen and it makes nuclear energy look like a double A battery in comparison."

"That would cause some eyebrows to raise at SHIELD. They will be coming after her"

"Exactly, but there is more. HYDRA and AIM are going to be searching for us too and we both know that they will eventually find us if SHIELD doesn't"

"We are going to find a way even if we have to betray our former friends. I promise you honey, that I will never let anything happen to our daughter." Almost like Ashley had heard him, she let out a light giggle from her cradle-induced sleep.

Immediately Mason was clamoring over how cute she was accidentally waking her up and causing her to cry. Which in turn earned him a smack on the back on the head from Harper.

* * *

 **December 3rd, 2008- Five miles away from Seattle, Washington-Makeshift shooting range**

A trigger is pulled. BANG!... a miss.

"Try again" Mason's harsh voice drilled.

Ashley and Mason were standing in the middle of a sandy clearing with a couple cans over in the distance set up on some rocks. Ashley had grown in her twelve years (obviously) and now you could get some defining characteristics other than "she has her dad's nose". While Ashley is a natural blonde she dyed her hair black and her freckles, while not painfully apparent were clearly visible. She peaked her height at around 5'3" and had a considerably fit body for her age having played softball and soccer over her school years.

BANG!

"Again"

Ashley was now 12 years old and Mason was teaching her how to defend herself. Mason didn't doubt that Ashley would be eventually found and hunted. This was his way to protect her, to train her to handle even the most dangerous people that come after her. Even if his fears were grounded on S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA coming after them, Harper had realized a while back that there was a chance that Ashley's energy acted as some sort of homing beacon. To what, they could only hope that it wasn't something that they couldn't handle.

BANG!

"Again"

While Mason's training consisted of combat exercises and battle tactics, Harper's training consisted of the more technical and mental challenges. Harper daily sent puzzles to help her mental capacities and had weekly practice situations with various circuit boards and broken tech to repair it and then upgrade it. While this may of been tough upon a child, especially with other responsibilities like school and sports, Ashley was a true workaholic. She took all of it in stride like she was just taking out the trash instead of learning how to shoot the wings off of a fly.

BANG!

"Again"

Ashley's powers was something never before seen, as far as Harper could tell whatever Ashley was manipulating was just as essential to the universe as the atoms that make it up. Right now their most prominent theory had something to do with a fly that killed off the dinosaurs...needless to say Harper wasn't confident that they were right. Other than that they had at least come up with a name for the energy that Ashley controlled, chronons.

BANG!...

A hit

"Good job" Mason patted Ashley's hair"Now, again"

In the end none of that mattered. Eventually, the world would be clamboring over the chance to obtain Ashley's power and hell would freeze over before they let anybody even _touch_ their daughter. The only thing that mattered was that Ashley was safe. Even if S.H.E.I.L.D. came after them, Or HYDRA. Or AIM. Or even the whole world. No matter what Mason was damned sure that Ashley would have one thing, her _future_.

BANG!

* * *

 **September 21st, 2011- Avila Household**

Ashley's house was nothing special, it was roomy for sure and looked like it could have been built by the guys from Extreme House Makeover, but it wasn't special. I suppose that now it was on fire though, it had that special feel to it. In the seemingly nice one-story house the curtains were singed with flame and the house looks it was trying to outdo a golf course in having the most holes.

The cause of this special edition of house makeover was a half dozen green men. These men were all giants in size each of them nearly seven feet in height with their purple and black plated armor adding to the intimidation of their appearance. Their ears were particularly elf-like in appearance and their chins look like a bunch of mini-chins lined up. Their clothes were almost robe like in appearance with their armor looking and flowing like a cloth in the wind.

They had suddenly blown a hole in the house and immediately murdered Harper shooting her head off with their laser weapons. Mason couldn't even stare into his dead wife's eyes as he looked for support as he was being constantly beat into submission. Even now as they were beating him to death and shouting at him he had only gleaned one thing from them. They were searching for something called an "aspect".

Naturally, Mason's mind jumped to his daughter, Ashley, who should have just gotten out of school. While Ashley herself didn't qualify as an aspect her powers were probably what they were looking for. They only confirmed this when they started to yell about a time aspect.

It had been only a few years, but once they had their first breakthrough everything started to fall into place. Chronons were the building blocks of time similar to how atoms were the building blocks of the universe. Whenever someone would theoretically travel through time they would be walking along a path of chronons as if someone were walking along a sidewalk.

That was their breakthrough concerning the powers themselves, but their second breakthrough was even more important. It pertained to the origins of the power and possibly the true origins of the whole universe. Once Ashley began having dreams of a strange man and his adventures and while they wouldn't have paid it much attention Ashley began to release small spurts of chronons in her sleep. That was when their search began. There was a myth of sorts from the early history of mankind, in fact if their research was true then this myth was what spawned Christianity and other monolithic religions.

Basically, this God figure wanted to enjoy his universe, but he had too much power. In turn he created six stones each containing a part of his power. Then even those stones had too much power in them and to prevent them from overloading he gave out extra power to living beings. It turns out that this is all true because as these 'Skrulls' were torturing him they had tried the persuasive way, explain that there was more at stake than a little girl blah blah blah. It didn't matter this was _his_ little girl.

They had gone silent the sound of flames burning seemingly overwhelming in the moment. A skrull, the leader most likely, bent down so that he was eye-level with Mason's sitting form. In it's raspy goblin-like voice he said threateningly "Tell me where the Time Aspect is now". It held a long jagged knife up to his throat " **Now** "

Mason headbutted the alien in the face causing dark green blood to spurt from his nose. Seizing this opportunity Mason quickly snatched the knife from the Skrull leader before grabbing the alien and holding a knife to his neck. He didn't need to say anything to the other five skrulls in the room as he slowly inched towards the giant hole in the wall. And he would have escaped too if it weren't for the bad timing of teenagers.

"Dad! Mom!" Ashley shouted as she stood in the doorway where the flames were just now starting to approach.

Ashley's sudden appearance distracted Mason enough for the aliens to get the upperhand. The leader swiftly flipped Mason over his shoulder onto the ground. Now lying on his back and realizing that the Ashley was in danger he shouted "Run! Ashley!R-" He was brutally cut off as the Skrull fired a laser blast into his skull.

Ashley stared at where her father's eyes had just been a moment before, now in it's place was a hollowed out skull that was slowly starting to blacken from the flames.

"Get her!" the Skrull shouted as he stomped down on her father's skull shattering it into bone fragments.

The shout from the tall green man broke Ashley from her shock and grief. She turned and ran out the way she came both the fire and her pursuers closely chasing her. She ran down the block and made a right turn before quickly ducking into an alley behind a large dumpster. Peeking her head out she sees that instead of a pack of seven-foot green men chasing down the street it was six guys in leather jackets that fit right in with all the other 80's movies bullies.

Knowing that hiding behind a dumpster for the rest of her life wasn't the smartest choice that she could make she made a run for the police station. You know it was just six blocks away and the green men had just ran that way. Deciding that it was well worth the risk she ran. Immediately she could see most of the aliens, now turned 80's bullies, running down the road and giving a quick glance before moving on.

It looks like the police idea was too obvious as she could tell that they were converging on the station. Ashley didn't know who else to turn to, her parents had just been murdered and all the friends she made at school weren't going to help her. There was no obvious answer to her current situation. All of the frustration and grief started to make itself more apparent when the shock and adrenaline faded away leaving a lonely girl to deal with her newfound grief.

Memories start flashing of their time together, Ashley and her mom cooking some cookies together and smearing the cookie dough all over each others faces. Ashley and her dad training with pistols and Ashley constantly kept on getting bullseyes and at the end of every single training he would say that he was proud to be her dad. Finally, it was all three of them sitting around a birthday cake, her twelfth birthday, and all of them trying to blow out the candles too busy laughing to actually do so.

In her grief all Ashley could do was sit there, next to a dumpster, and wallow in the fact that her parents were gone.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello again lovely readers! This chapter is shorter than the others, but that is for a good reason. This chapter is going to directly lead into the first chapter of my first actual volume, Dare To Seize. Anyway, this chapter we were introduced to the Skrulls, a nasty race of shapeshifters that are extremely dangerous. They will act as one of the big bads of the first collection of my books. Speaking of collections these are going to be phases essentially, but with my fanfiction I get to rename them.**

 **Anyways I have just finished Stranger Things on Netflix and have began to binge watch Agent Carter. I highly recommend both of these shows and every other superhero show out there. Now this is on spoiler territory, but the main villain is from Agent Carter or at least an adaption of it will be the big bad for Vol. One.**

 **Now onto real-life problems. I normally wouldn't talk about this stuff, but since it's going to be affecting my speed in updating I'll just tell you. Summer is ending and it went by in the blink of an eye and with school returning I need to give my all which is already hard without writing.**

 **Now my fans thank you for reading my latest chapter and listening to my woes, so without further ado.**

 **Reviews are awesome Constructive criticism is better.**

 **-Sage out-**


	4. Chapter 4: Dare To Seize Purpose

Volume Zero: When The World Was Young

 **A/N: Welcome ladies and gents to my Marvel Universe! Now this may be a slow-starting fanfic, but guess what? This is the last chapter before I start the first Volume One. This legendary chapter will lay the groundwork for our villain. Now I have stated before that I want this villain to be likable like Loki, but more likable in the way that Zemo was. Someone who was wronged and wants revenge will be his starting point once we start Vol. One, this chapter will start him on his path to revenge.**

 **Overall my goal with this chapter is to illustrate two things: his power and his origins. When I was thinking of his powers I was thinking Captain America times 1000 or so. He will also have martial arts training and a sharp tactical mind. I will also be focusing on the speed aspect of his powers. This will be hard considering how much detail needs to be put into describing the motion other than 'he zoomed around the room'. So for this reason I'm going to be basing my descriptions of speed off of the Quicksilver from X-Men.**

 **Now I introduce my villain, Invincible**

 **P.S. There will be shoutouts and easter eggs and such in my story and if you manage to notice one then post it in your review. The first person to notice each easter egg will have a chance to get a special mention in my next chapter.**

 **Cheers and good luck! ;)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything Marvel-related or any other properties mentioned, however I do own my OCs and if Marvel wants them they are going to have to cough up some money.**

* * *

Chapter Four: Dare To Seize Purpose

 **September 1st, 1997 - Queens, New York - Rebalas Household**

It was a bright sunny day in the quaint neighborhood of Queens with children playing in the streets and having fun. It was a total contrast to the nightlife of the city with shady dealings and murders being common. Honestly, Queens was the last honest safe boroughs with the crimelords agreeing that the next generation would have a chance to safely grow up there. That was only organized crime though, anyone could walk into Queens and start murdering people.

We shouldn't be talking about such morbid topics on such a happy day though. Especially today when young Anthony turns five years old, finally this was the year he could go to school! It was his biggest dream ever to become just like his hero, Captain America. Anthony was a tiny brown-haired and brown-eyed kid with excitement and determination filling his brown eyes.

With that determination he blew as hard as he could with his biggest breath ever! It was his birthday and he was going to get all of the candles in one breath this time, he just knew it. He waved his head around desperately trying to get all of the candles.

One. He had this in the bag.

Two. He would impress everybody that came to his party.

Three. He was going to do it!

Four. Nothing was going to stop him!

Five. He almost had it, but then he caught sight of his Mom recording him and he sputtered out the last of his breath clearly embarrassed. He looked back at the fifth candle still burning brightly despite his efforts to put it out. He quickly blew it out and looked at his family and friends.

There weren't that many people there other than his family. There were Ben and May Parker and their new nephew who they had promised to babysit for the weekend, Peter was his name. Peter wasn't the only new one however, the Morales family had moved in across the street and as a sort of welcome they were invited. Finally, there was also Anna Watson who acted as a sort of mother to the little community they had built in the middle of Queens.

Anthony's dad, David, walked over to him and ruffled his hair "Nice job kiddo, you almost got all of them"

Anthony's mother, Jennifer, who was standing behind Anthony, fixed his hair before scolding the father "You just had to ruin all of the work I put into making him look nice don't you"

In response, David ruffled Anthony's hair further as he flashed his wife his most charming smile. He stopped ruffling the young boy's hair resting his hands on the brunette's head. Leaning down next to Anthony's ear David quickly whispered "Think fast" before pushing his son's head into the cake.

Raising his head back up Anthony shouted at his dad "Dad, you ruined my cake!"

Everybody laughed as the cake-covered five year old shouted at his father.

* * *

 **The Next Day - Just outside of New York on a deserted road**

It was a one in a trillion chance that this happened, yet it did. A meteor had managed to slip past SHIELDS's sensors and in a nearly abandoned road managed to hit the only people on the road. It killed the two parents instantly, however the kid wasn't only alive, but he was also _glowing_.

Nick Fury was understandably saddened upon the sight. Preliminary intel scans identified the couple as David and Jennifer Rebalas. The boy, Anthony Rebalas, had just turned five yesterday and his special presents were a road trip and a couple of dead parents. Concerning how he was alive and why in the world he was _glowing_ was the Research divisions problem.

Fury quickly amended that thought. The council would want their greedy hands all over this kid, probably want to turn him into the next Winter Soldier. According to the scans there were was some form of cosmic radiation that had leaked out of the meteor and by their estimates the boy had somehow absorbed the energy.

Fury had no doubt that the boy would gain superhuman abilities. This is why Fury had decided that he would protect the boy no matter what. Anthony would be given the best training that SHIELD had to offer and he would be the best of the best. This could be the start of something great, he could gather other gifted individuals to make a team that would join together and help the world. Fury smirked, he already had a name for the team.

"Thunderbolts"

* * *

 **12 years later, September 26th 2009 - Mojave Desert**

Perhaps engaging the Hulk in direct combat wasn't his best idea, but a sneak attack wasn't really going to help their situation either. Intense vibrations were launched at the green beast from a short brunette girl pushing him back a few feet and causing dust to rise up in the air. Next, arrows were launched at the Hulk's eyes, mouth, and managed to block the arrows that were going for his face by lifting his hand causing the arrows to lodge into his arm. The rest of the arrows hit their targets with master marksmanship. The archers were revealed as the dust settled, a blonde man in purple bodysuit and a man with a skull mask, blue bodysuit, and a white cloak to complete the intimidating look.

"Tick, tick, boom" a cocky voice came from the blonde man as the arrows exploded causing the giant to stumble back in surprise. The men high-fived each other in triumph.

Quickly following that up was the vibrations once again aimed at the back of the giant's knees causing him to kneel. Then out of nowhere a woman in a blue flight suit with pink transparent wings made out of energy on her back swooped in and uppercutted the behemoth with a pink energy mace. The Hulk quickly found himself staring at the clear blue sky as he was knocked off of his feet.

The same pink energy from before started to form a box around his body. Quickly the brunette ran up and a hole opened in the box. She put her hands in the hole and unleashed the strongest vibrations that she could. The team had been prepared though, they had a way to take down the Hulk and if that didn't work then they had a Plan B.

Plan A however was full proof, scientifically that is. Songbird, the woman with the pink energy would form a sonic barrier around the Hulk that would resonate at the same frequency as the Hulk. This would prevent the Hulk from being able to escape as every time he would try to smash the barrier his molecules would feel the intense vibrations and cause massive pain to the giant.

This would be quickly followed up by Quake, the brunette with the vibrations, unleashing intense vibrations at the same frequency as the cage and the Hulk, not only hurting the Hulk without touching him, but also strengthening the molecular vibrations to unimaginable levels of pain. **(Fun Fact: This is all based on actual real-life science called harmonic motion and fully constructive interference. Or at least my basic understanding of it)** They would continue this until the Hulk was knocked out or if the worst case scenario happened, the giant broke free from his prison.

Needless to say, the Hulk wasn't called incredible for nothing. The green behemoth was growing in both size and anger. Hulk started to get up from his knee, his muscles bursting apart in the process. They quickly came back bigger and stronger than the previous muscles.

The giant rose to his feet and now standing at a crazy scary height of 12 feet compared to his previous 7 feet, suddenly the team didn't feel so confident. The Hulk pulled back his arms to his sides behind him, before quickly clapping them together in front of him with an outrageous amount of force.

The barrier broke and Quake was flying back, being the closest. Quake's arms were still flying though and her vibrations were now on their way to hitting Songbird. The two archers, Hawkeye and Taskmaster, aimed their bows at the Hulk hoping that their Plan B wouldn't hit the fan like Plan A just did.

"Looks like it's time for Plan B" a voice came out of nowhere.

It was this moment where time slowed down to a crawl as the vibrations were moving at the pace of a snail. The arrows had barely left their bows and they were practically frozen mid-air. This is where the final member and leader of the Thunderbolts appeared, Anthony Rebelas aka Invincible. Standing at a small height of 5'8" Anthony looked completely average with brown hair and eyes with the only thing that wasn't average was that he was built like a truck.

After that meteor had hit Anthony had gained amazing powers that made Captain America's abilities look like they were a thing of the past, which they were. Among them included being able lift over 1000 tons and being able to break Mach Five speeds, also the reflexes to keep up with that speed.

Casually walking the teen looked up at the towering 12 foot giant currently in the middle of a beastly roar. He tilted his head to the side as he decided to how to fight the Hulk. He could run around him so fast that the Hulk couldn't breathe. Nope, the Hulk could get out of that. Maybe he could punch through the Hulk's chest and pull out his heart Mortal Kombat-style. Nevermind, he was pretty sure Fury wanted him alive.

Deciding that the simplest solution was the best Invincible ran towards the Hulk. He jumped up and superman punched the Hulk. The Hulk then proceeded to fly away like a ragdoll. Invincible caught up to the flying behemoth before lifting his leg up and bringing it down. **Hard.** Debris flew up from the impact and caused a large dust cloud to form in the air.

As for the Hulk he had absolutely no idea what had just happened. Hulk was ready to smash some puny humans who thought that putting him in a bright pink cage was a brilliant idea. Next thing he knew he was facing the sky (covered in dust) and his dark green stomach seemed to be brimming with bright red liquid. _Blood_. The Hulk smirked this was going to be fun.

Using his infamous thunderclap he blew away the dust cloud revealing a small boy in front of him. Wasting no time he ran towards the unassuming teenager throwing a punch that could probably destroy whole mountains. The fact that the boy had caught the giant fist and stopped it not only surprised the Hulk, but also Doctor Bruce Banner in their shared subconscious. Of course that didn't stop the surrounding area from exploding from the two forces meeting.

Invincible in turn used the Hulk's outstretched arm as leverage. He lifted himself up and kneed the green goliath in face causing his head to whip backwards from the force. Using his current momentum Invincible grabbed the Hulk's hair and pulled changing his direction. Once his feet touched the dirt with the hair still in hand (meanwhile, the Hulk was doing an incredible job at limbo) Invincible threw the Hulk into a nearby butte busting it apart.

The Hulk however was now angry, and enhanced enough that he could catch glimpses of the powerful speedster. He was still on his way down from the throw and he could see blurs of purple jumping on the debris towards his location. He prepared for an attack and managed to block the teenager. Still didn't stop him from being launched into the desert floor though.

He quickly stood up starting to see his foe more clearly. He could now see flickers of silver on the purple blur. He moved his feet into a steady position and now standing at his enormous size of fifteen feet looked like he could take on a mountain and _win_. He caught the teen's punch before launching a devastating punch into the puny human's body. Sending him a good fifty feet into the ground and creating yet another crater.

The speedster quickly recovered and launched himself upwards managing to land an uppercut on the Hulk in turn lifting him up a couple hundred feet. Invincible took this time to regain his breath, he had _never_ been hit that hard. The Hulk landed in the dirt slowly rising into a kneeling position. Because of the Hulk's crazy regeneration, something that Invincible lacks, he ran towards the teen agent.

The two then clashed at superhuman speeds creating massive shockwaves with every single punch. Every kick. Every attempt to make the other one submit. To anyone else it would have looked like a tornado had decided to swallow a whole load of green and purple as they raged across the Mojave desert.

Finally, both of them battered and bleeding Invincible rushed in for one last attempt. He jumped up, but instead of the predictable superman punch he had led with previously he wrapped his hands around the Hulk's arm. Quickly speeding around the beast he put all the force he could into striking the Hulk's pressure points. While earlier in the fight Invincible had the clear advantage, he had made the Hulk angry enough to be stronger than him. Not faster though.

The Hulk was like a tank. A tank that could take down a mountain range sure, but a tank always had a weakness in their defense. Ironically, the weakness that kept the Hulk from being completely unstoppable was that he was too human. Literally, no Bruce Banner caused the Hulk to hold back or any sentimental crap like that, the Hulk's body was basically a gamma-enhanced body.

And even though this body could take bullets and missiles no problem, it still had the same weaknesses of the human body, pressure points. The young leader swung around the Hulk's body hitting the points with as much power as he could. The Hulk fell to his knees a moment later before reverting to Bruce Banner.

Feeling victorious Invincible looked back at his team only to realize that they had only moved a few inches from apparently a few milliseconds ago. Weird, it felt longer than that. He moved Songbird out of the way of Quake's blast and moved the arrows back into the archers' quivers.

He stood back as time resumed at it's normal pace.

Several large bangs went off across the desert signaling the sound barrier being broken many times. Craters fully formed and trenches scarred the Mojave as the signs of the fight started to form. Quake fell on her butt and created another trench with her vibrations. Everyone else just looked around confused before looking at their leader.

Invincible signaled them that the job was done before holding a hand up to his ear

"The Hulk has been detained preparing transport to the Cube"

* * *

 **Several days later - Thunderbolt's Base - Location: Unknown**

The base was located inside the interior of a mountain where state-of-the-art technology and defenses were built into the walls. This gave the base a natural and unnatural feel at the same time with the shiny metal contrasting the grimy stone. Still the base was more than a military hideout, it was a home. Afterall, Anthony had built it to be his.

While most of the team had their own lives out of the Thunderbolts initiative there were a few that had nowhere else to go. Daisy Johnson a.k.a. Quake was the second resident of the base and second member of the team. At the young age of six was found in a small chinese village surrounded by numerous dead bodies and a leveled forest. This was a year after Anthony had been discovered and she eventually became Fury's right-hand woman.

The third member of their team was Clint aka Hawkeye. At the time of his joining he was around twenty-five years old and was the closest thing the pair had to a mentor. Honestly, even several years later Anthony or Daisy didn't understand why Fury had decided to put a guy with a _bow_ and _arrow_ onto the team. When asked he simply responded with a 'I like the way he deals with things'. The duo didn't mind him or his unique weapon now though, especially when he helped recruit their next member, Melissa aka Songbird.

When they had first found her she was a target known as Mimi. She was to be brought in for secretly orchestrating a crime war that changed the power scales of the criminal underworld. Turns out that she was trying to gain the power and create the largest criminal empire known to man and she would have gotten away with it if the Thunderbolts hadn't stopped her. From there Hawkeye had interrogated her and somehow convinced her to join the team.

Finally, there was Tony Masters aka Taskmaster. He was a SHIELD agent left to die on one of his missions. The Thunderbolts were nearby conducting an investigation and ran across the soldier. They rescued him, but not before AIM had gotten to him. They had done something to his mind, it made him able to copy any moves by just seeing them. Based by their findings AIM had intended to create a new breed of super soldier, one based around the mind instead of the body.

They were a team and more importantly a family. They had gone through numerous trials and challenges together. They found brothers and sisters in each other. Anthony and Daisy found love in each other. Despite their trouble filled backgrounds they had complete faith in each other, they would always have each other's backs. Then it all broke apart when _she_ died.

It had all been a normal day. Clint and Tony were playing video games, determined to beat each other in a quickscope match. Melissa was writing in her diary recounting her days in the criminal world as a sort of rehabilitation method her psychiatrist had recommended. Anthony was reading Harry Potter slowly flipping through the pages as a way to ground himself in reality, to remind himself that he isn't just a super soldier but also a human.

He quickly grew exhausted of human emotions when the news was delivered. Nick Fury in all of his trench coat glory walked into the compound with his face filled with a grim sadness. To Anthony there were two things wrong with this picture. First off, Fury was _here_. He had visited this place maybe half a dozen times before and even then it was always with Daisy or Clint. Bringing Anthony to the second thing wrong.

Daisy wasn't with him.

"Where is she!"Anthony shouted as he got up and picked Fury up by the collar of his trench coat.

For a moment Fury just stared at the young man. The young man that he had practically raised along with the bright young brunette. A tear leaked out from under Fury's eyepatch "She fought bravely"

Now it was Anthony's turn to be silent. Melissa broke down in tears and fell to her knees while Tony and Clint went to Melissa and walked with her hiding tears of their own. Anthony dropped Fury. They simply stared at each other, one stare filled with disbelief and accusations and the other with acceptance. Acceptance of what he did and what he was going to do.

"What happened?"

A simple question. Yet it was one he couldn't answer, not to _him_. Not to the boy who had lost his world again.

"It was my fault"

Anthony hated the way Fury said it, with acceptance and love. It would be so much easier to hate the man if he had an emotionless tone or if his tone was completely unjustified...but it wasn't. Fury, no... Nick had lost a daughter just as Anthony had lost a lover.

The men stood in front of each other once again. One searching for a reason to hate while the other was looking for a reason to be hated. Another tear slipped from Nick's eyepatch. He quickly made a hand signal, regret already building in his chest. He couldn't let these people be endangered anymore.

Melissa, Clint, and Tony were then dragged out of Clint's room, where they had been grieving, unconscious. Not that Anthony knew that. Limp, motionless bodies and heart rates slowed down so much that they were practically at a standstill. He knew what was coming next.

He was able to grab the first dart, but the second one hit him in the neck with enough tranquilizer to put down ten elephants. The dart was fired by Nick himself as he ordered the agent who dragged the other bodies out to carry out Anthony out as well.

Then the person who fired the first dart, a redhead in a black catsuit with yellow bracelets, walked on over to Nick.

"Are you sure that you want to do this sir? Afterall, they are practically your family" the Black Widow questioned her boss.

A beat.

"Stick to the spy games Romanoff" was Nick's reply as a final tear fell from his eyepatch.

* * *

 **Next Week - The Cube - Location: Unknown**

"Here comes the new inmate" a giant of a man who was being suspended mid air away from the walls and other materials he could absorb.

Anthony was being put into the Cube a prison dedicated to detaining radiation-enhanced individuals such as the Abomination and Absorbing Man. He was walked past the cell where Bruce Banner was being held and their eyes met for a second before Anthony was shoved along.

"I hear this one is special" came the menacing voice of Emil Blonsky aka the Abomination.

Blonsky snarled at Anthony as he went by "Nevermind it's just a piece of trash"

They had finally reached his cell, his new home. He hated the word now. It reminded him of place where he was happy, where he had a family, a place where his father wouldn't stab him in the back, a place where _she_ was still alive.

In the next cell over there was a green man with a very large head. Clothed in an orange jumpsuit the Leader was focused with his eyes closed. He opened his eyes and they were glowing a bright green before they dimmed down to their normal shade of forest green. "Finally"

* * *

 **A/N: Wow! This took longer than expected. Honestly, I had to rewrite the fight scene with the Hulk, so that he wouldn't be completely stomped on, and school came up so I got lazy and put off the last two scenes for a while. Also have any of you waited until two days before school starts to work on your two summer assignments? Oh, you haven't then good for you, you officially have more common sense than me. On the bright side I managed to finish one of them.**

 **Anyways, the prologue has been written and the stage has been set. Now we move onto my first story in my MFFU(Marvel FanFiction Universe, called it first...I think) where the main characters have their origins and motives set and some world-building has happened. And now we can finally move onto the actual story, so look for Vol. One of Dare To Seize coming soon to this fanfiction site only!**

 **I need friends. Actually, speaking of friends I have found a guy that is interested in joining me on my adventure in writing, so if my story starts to improve you know who to thank. That should be all! Be sure to check out the next installment in this series!**

 **P.S. I'm on Comics Amino as Sageofcomics where I post links to my fanfics and create bios for my characters. See ya there.**

 **Reviews are awesome Constructive criticism is better.**

 **-Sage out-**


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